Pages

Tuesday, 4 November 2014

Aberrant - in Vienna

The Nova Initiative team
has returned to the Hub and been debriefed. Benedict had a quick chat with Adam
and Chrissie about his new baby boy, Alistair. Jen (his wife, who has so far
gone undermentioned but is a lovely NPC who does most of the actually running
of Benedict’s international company, St John Enterprises) was recovering well,
and their kitten (Mittens) seem to be happy with the new arrival. He had some
concerns with the child’s relationship with quantum – like nothing seen before.

He had a new task for
Adam and Chrissie, to investigate Project Utopia’s branch in Vienna. They would
be supported by Stef and Mark in this, whilst Robert and Jean had another task
and Rachel was put on standby to assist either team. Benedict was a little
vague about what was being sought, except that there was another facility
elsewhere that he had concerns over, where they seemed to be keeping
‘dangerous’ novae.

The Hub – the Nova
Initiative’s secret base under London – has expanded into other cities. These
smaller mini-hubs have become known as Spokes.

Adam has flown out to LA
with Sam to start filming on the comics he’s been writing; Chrissie (sorry, Dr
Christina Walker, PhD), meanwhile, has been invited to give a key note speech
at a conference in Vienna (under her nova name of Lisa Moore), discussing the
role of baselines and novae in a quantum world. We’ll rejoin the action as
Chrissie arrives above the swimming pool by which Adam and Sam are lounging in
the garden of their LA property.

Spotting
Adam, I carefully tucked my body and dropped into the pool to drench the patio
– Adam (speed freak!) managed to catch most of the drips as they flew through
the air so Sam stayed dry. Working on my control of fire, I heated myself to
dry off. It was effective, although I think I may have freaked Sam out a little
– I don’t think she knew I could do that. It’s not entirely common knowledge
yet.

Anyway,
I was excited to invite them to my speech in Vienna – Sam declined very
politely, wanting to stay here and build her acting career. Adam was keen to
attend, seeing it as a good opportunity to start our next mission. He also very
kindly went through the speech with me a few times to make sure it would make
sense to the non-novas in the audience. And also to make sure I didn’t get
side-tracked in irrelevant details. And for the moral support.

We
raced to Vienna (of course!) – I flew and arrived just before he did on foot.
He’s getting really good at jumping. We were both struck by the beauty of the
city.

It
was thrilling, to give the speech. Benedict came up after – as Sir Benedict St
John, CEO of St John Enterprises, rather than as my boss – to congratulate me.
Our friendship is not widely known, in part to protect him from being outed as
a nova. There were many other interesting people and I soon got distracted
whilst Adam, Benedict, Stef and Mark went off to the Vienna Spoke of the Hub.

They
discussed the best way to sneak into Project Utopia, whose ostentatious
building was more or less opposite the far subtler entrance to the Spoke, and
decided the best plan would be to sneak through via the caterers or similar
staff. Adam also decided to see if he could find anything out from one of the
taxi drivers from Utopia’s preferred company.

Meanwhile,
I got chatting with Antaeus, the biologist Steven Bulmer who’d opened up to being
a nova the ngiht we met him all that time ago in America – the night we saved
the life of Chelsea Clinton. I knew he’d started working with Utopia – kind of
hard not to know, with the exploits of Team Tomorrow plastered all over the
news – so asked him about their facilities, as if I were interested in joining.
The Nova Initiative is known and recognised, but we’re a lot quieter so I
wasn’t particularly surprised he didn’t seem to know I had an affiliation. When
he asked, I muttered about the fellowship Cambridge had recently offered me.
After some discussion, he offered me a tour of his lab after his speech the
next day. This seemed a really good opportunity, so I accepted.

Adam
had managed to book a cab using the same company as Project Utopia and turned
his impressive charisma onto the driver, who opened up with as much juicy
gossip as he could provide. One bit stuck out to Adam: that Antaeus was often
driven to what was assumed to be a lab in a warehouse that looked almost
abandoned. Adam got the address and decided to check it out whilst I kept Antaeus occupied. We decided to keep ‘radio silence’ in case anyone was
eavesdropping on our psychic link.

If
I didn’t have access to the Hub, Project Utopia’s facilities would be
spectacular. Antaeus couldn’t show me much beyond his own lab space but was
pleased that they left him alone to get on with his studies into terraforming.
He had plans to renew the Sahara and I had to keep reminding myself I was there
with purpose because it was so fascinating. We went for lunch (so much food
available!) and were joined by Cesta Pax. No blink of recognition from him over
the incident in Tbilisi, although he did remember me from that evening in
America when I met him and Anatayas. I’m getting used to being recognised as
Lisa rather than Chrissie, but don’t know if it will ever feel natural.

Whilst
we ate, Pax received a message that something was going down. In a blink of
inspiration I offered assistance, thinking it would give the rest of the team
more time. A quick message to Adam – “Sorry, not going to be able to meet you
for lunch, heading out to Kiev with Team Tomorrow” (nice and subtle in case it
was intercepted. Not sure when I became this paranoid) – and I flew out, still
in my suit whilst the others sported Team Tomorrow colours.

It
is weird not to have constant chatter with Adam. I am fairly used to it when
dormed down, now, but in full-superhero mode it is weird to stay quiet.

We
flew to Kiev. I kept pace with Team Tomorrow but was careful not to show how
easy it was to do so. The full extent of my abilities aren’t widely known; it’s
known I can fly, that I’m very strong and tough, and since releasing that paper
that got me invited to Vienna my intelligence is recognised, but so far that’s
it.

As
we drew nearer Kiev, I spotted a glowing blast that took out a building – I didn’t
see where it came from, but it felt clear there was already at least one nova
in the area. We sped in, Antaeus splitting off with part of Team Tomorrow,
another group heading another direction whilst Pax and I took a third route. 5
tanks and several foot soldiers were terrorising some locals. As we landed, the
tank barrels twisted to point at us. The largest tank fired first, a large
shell that exploded in my shoulder and seriously hurt. Another smaller tank
fired towards me; nearly as painful but my body began knitting the damage
immediately. The other three fired at Pax: he took two shells but caught the
third with telekinesis and threw it back down the barrel from whence it had come.
The tank ballooned slightly as it exploded inside (and part of me remembered
the way Pax had looked at us in Tbilisi as he took Mina Trang and told us at
least he hadn’t killed anyone). I ran forward to lift the largest tank onto its
side, where it couldn’t do any more damage. Two of the remaining small tanks
fired at me, but again it was nothing the quantum flowing through my body
couldn’t handle and I grabbed the barrel of one and swung it, baseball-style,
into the side of the other. This was not something I’d done before and again my
strength surprised me: both tanks were more or less vaporised.

At
this point, I got a small mental nudge from Benedict, asking where I was and
what I was doing. I explained – keeping an eye on Team Tomorrow and smashing
tanks. Within seconds, Adam wanted more information on the tanks so I flashed
him the image. He seemed impressed.

Pax,
meanwhile, took out the final tank and turned his attention to the first group
of foot soldiers. I didn’t see exactly what he did, but the wall of energy would
have knocked me off my feet if I weren’t already flying. I turned to the
remaining soldiers and summoned tiny balls of fire to fly at each gun. As the
guns contorted in the heat, the ammunition therein expanded and fired off,
unfortunately killing all the soldiers but fortunately no civilians.

We
made sure the locals were ok, guiding them towards safety, before we turned to
where the team without Antaeus were in difficulty, facing down a nova. By this
point, my smart suit had been fairly well trashed by the shells but there wasn’t
much I could do about it here.

We
found the team dancing around a nova I barely had a chance to look at before he
lashed out. I threw a fire cage around him, thinking to keep him in place so we
could talk him down, but like the Fireman (supposedly the first to erupt,
although Adam, Benedict and I know better) he could absorb the flames and drew
strength from them. Whilst the others flew around him, trying to do some
damage, I body slammed him at full speed and he was thrown against a building –
he looked badly hurt but immediately I could see him starting to recover so
raced in again to punch him, and again. He threw a bolt of energy at me that
didn’t seem to do much, but I must have been lucky because he threw the same at
a member of Team Tomorrow who more or less disintegrated.

A
crater had formed and was developing craters of its own as we group of novas
fought.

Eventually,
the mystery nova fired off that blast once more but throwing as much into it as
he had. I could feel my body starting to melt as the power thrashed through me
and unthinking I screamed for Adam. Pax alone of the Team Tomorrow
representatives survived: around 1.5% of the entire known nova population on
the planet wiped out in a second. Smashed into a new crevice in our crater, it
was with scorched eyes I saw Pax, looking seriously hurt himself, through a
powerful beam into the other nova, ripping his flesh away until only clean
bones survived.

I
tried to stand. The pain was so great I couldn’t even concentrate enough to let
Adam know what was happening – could barely hear anything over the roar of
agony. Pax grabbed me and flew me back to his base in Vienna. I was pretty
delirious, so when en route I spotted a powerful collecting of quantum within
the city that he couldn’t see, I assumed it was part of the pain. I couldn’t
even explain to him I wanted to go to the Spoke, to have my doctors work on me.
By the time we reached the medibay, I was delirious enough I started screaming
for Jean, and no one knew who he was or could help me.

I
came to in a forest several hours later, and Adam filled me in on what I’d
missed.

When
Adam and Mark first went to the warehouse, they found it filled with verdant
grass that sounded a lot like what I’d seen in Antaeus’s lab. Moving further
in, they’d found a strange tube filled with liquid and possibly some form of
life. Adam had attempted to use his ‘sight-beyond-sight’ ESP stuff to throw his
senses within to taste the liquid: he was thrown out by a fierce personality so
they decided the best plan was to fetch Benedict (this was when he buzzed me to
see what I was up to).

The
three of them returned to the warehouse, where Benedict was very interested in
the tube: he went silent, staring at it with arms folded across his chest.
After a while, Adam noticed a crack in the glass, which he tried pointing out
to Benedict, but Benedict didn’t respond. Something powerful was going on that
neither Mark nor Adam understood.

It
was at this point I screamed. Adam, apparently, tried speaking to me but I didn’t
respond: I think the pain must have utterly severed our link for the time being.
Adam attempted to speak to Benedict telepathically, and was thrown across the
room.

He
ran to Kiev to find me. It wasn’t hard to track down our progress within the
city and he quickly found the crater with the many scorch marks that were all
that remained of much of Team Tomorrow, and the neatly cleaned pile of bones at
the centre. He checked them carefully and with relief soon realised they were
the wrong size to be mine, and probably male anyway. No other clues revealed
themselves to him, so he ran back to report to Mark. This time, attempts to
speak to Benedict were met with white noise rather than punishment.

Mark
followed Adam as he stormed towards Project Utopia; his only hope being that
they would know what had happened. The receptionist was less than helpful,
advising he needed an appointment. He was fuming and smashed the desk, so Mark
very calmly gave the lady a card to send the bill for the desk to and led Adam
outside. “Trust me” he said, and led Adam back in… where no one seemed to
notice them. By following other people as they opened doors, they made their
way up to the floors used by Team Tomorrow and, eventually, into a common room
of sorts – furnished with comfy sofas and chairs and filled with all the food
you could eat.

A
nova sat in one seat, staring into space. After a moment or two, she readjusted
as though drawing her attention back to her surroundings and spoke to Adam. She
quickly revealed herself as psychic, introducing herself as Pratima and asking
Adam’s name, only to call him Adam as soon as she’d asked and his name floated
to the surface of his mind. She knew what had happened to me and that I was now
in surgery and suggested he wait there. She didn’t seem to notice Mark and Adam
realised he couldn’t see our teammate either – but when he sat down he felt
Mark’s weight on the sofa beside him.

It
didn’t take long for them to feel bored and that frustration born of being
unable to help a friend. Adam then spotted a crack appearing in the window,
much like the crack he’d seen in the tube. With Mark’s invisible help, he moved
the sofa they’d been sat on to protect them if the window shattered, and they
went back to waiting.

The
room seemed to be getting hotter: Adam couldn’t feel it because of the way the
quantum energies protect us from things like that, but the water in the water
cooler was bubbling. He went to have a drink and found it to be cool to the
touch – then spotted some cans and remembered what Benedict had said about
Project Utopia apparently putting something in the water that made novas
infertile so put the water down and picked up a lemonade. He could hear it
fizzing as though it had been shaken vigorously, but he opened it anyway,
relying on his speed and dexterity to catch the spray. Mark was impressed.

He
rang a bell and a butler, Bertrand, appeared. Adam asked him about the water
cooler – he tried turning it off but it still bubbled. The TV was also not
working: this scared Adam, because he was worried the sensitive equipment being
used to operate on me was also being affected. Overhearing Bertrand on the
phone, he learnt that glass throughout the building was cracking, that none of
the TVs were working and that water everywhere was bubbling. The medical
equipment seemed to be ok for now.

Mark
and Adam headed for the training room. Here, the swimming pool also seemed to
be at a steady boil. Their equipment wasn’t quite up to the standard of our own,
but was impressive enough. Needing a distraction and feeling a little petulant
(this is Team Tomorrow’s base, after all), Adam took out his pens and quickly
sketched across the wall the scene of me smashing one tank with another I'd
sent to him earlier. It was at this point Pax entered – he was impressed with
the drawing and commented it had been cool, before reassuring Adam as best he
could that I would be ok.

They
chatted a bit about the way the water and glass was behaving – Adam wanted to
know how far this spread, but Pax stated that they were unable to communicate
with any other base at the moment, so Adam offered to act as messenger and run.
Pax gratefully took him up on the offer, giving him a note to take to their
centre in Paris and a card to flash at the receptionist downstairs when he
returned. The Paris office didn’t offer any response, but as an afterthought
Adam bought a bottle of water to see if he could gauge how widespread the
problem was. About 10 miles from the Vienna base, the water began to bubble
violently.

My
operation was just finishing when Benedict appeared in Adam’s head with three orders:
one, that he would now have to look after the Nova Initiative; two, that
Benedict had forgotten to give to Jenny something in his desk and Adam was to
ensure Jenny got it; and three, he was to get as many people as far out of
Vienna as possible NOW. Stef, he was told, was already safe.

Adam
relayed this to Mark and, with Pax’s help, they set about evacuating the local
area. Mark summoned a portal to a nearby forest and they led through as many
people as the portal would take – including wheeling me through with the
doctors and equipment. The portal closed behind them and in the distance they
watched Vienna explode in quantum energy; right down to the mantle, as lava
spewed forth.